Every smart business uses social media to expand their customer/audience base, and many of them have it all figured out, with thousands of fans and followers, and consistent engagement, so how do you know if you are doing it right? If what you’re doing is working?

Some of the most commonly made mistakes are easily avoidable.

-Having an authentic connection with your audience – Do your followers engage with your content? They should be. Posting regularly, with value added content is a great way to encourage engagement from your audience. Include alluring call to action statements in your content to initiate conversations with your audience. When you have a conversation with your audience you become human, and your connection deepens

-Creating a strategy – I cannot say this enough; You have to have a plan! Posting randomly on your social media platforms without a strategic plan and goals, will get you nowhere! It is probably the most important aspect to consider in your social media efforts. Your customers spend an average of 20 minute, 4 times a day on social media, and with more and more businesses adopting social media into their marketing plans, you need to make sure you are not just adding to the noise with your social media. Be strategic in planning how to target your customers and provide engaging content for them.

-A decrease in organic reach – 50,000,000+ businesses have a Facebook page. On average they post 1.48 times each day. 2% is their Facebook organic reach, and this number continues to decline, (source: DMR) but why? Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc, they all get the majority of their revenue from advertising, so what does that mean for your business? Simply put, you have to pay to play. With paid advertising you can more than triple your reach, and with each platforms targeting features, you can ensure that you are only paying for the customers who are relevant for your business’ growth.

-Consistently creating GOOD content – Creating good content is a must! Start with a schedule. Create an editorial calendar with topics and categories for you posts to organize your content. This helps make the task seem less overwhelming too. Keep a journal and take down notes on ideas when they come to you, then when you sit down each month to create your calendar, you’ll have many ideas already. Repurpose your content. Analyze what worked and reuse it later on. Don’t post the exact same thing, but take a blog post that did well, and highlight something new.

-Posting quantity over quality – Quality content builds trust and a following, it’s engaging, it creates social proof. Before you post, ask yourself; is this relevant? Is this helpful to my customers? Is there value in this content? If you answer yes, then you’re good to go, if not, try going back to the drawing board, your audience will thank you.

-Reaching a large audience – The fastest way to reach a large audience is to pay for it, but it’s not the only way. Shares on your content spread your content to relevant audiences as well. Know your audience, know where they spend their time, and know how to create engaging content to increase your chances of your audience wanting to share your content.
-Creating quality graphics – Imagery is so important! It is the first thing your customers see when deciding whether or not to stop and read. If it’s not gripping, your customer’s are not as likely to stop and look. Often times this is a picture that can create an emotional response from your customers, but it can also be a video. Make sure your imagery is clear and high quality. If you’re not a professional photographer, or don’t have the funds to hire one, there are tons of websites that offer high quality imagery, some for purchase, and some for free. One of my favorites is Pixabay.

-Getting your audience to share your content – Ask! If you don’t ask, you can’t receive, so Ask your audience to share your content. Create quality content that makes them want to share it. Use catchy headlines, great imagery and ask them to share it.

Hopefully these suggestions were helpful. If you have other mistakes you want to share, please comment on the blog. For specific questions shoot me an email at janell@firstascentsocialmarketing.com.

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